Abstract
The present study was designed to determine whether the extent of incarceration is related to Children's Philosophies of Human Nature Scale scores among male adolescents. The Children's Philosophies of Human Nature Scale was administered to 113 incarcerated male adolescents. Their scores on the 3 subscales, trustworthiness, strength of will and rationality, and complexity, were unrelated to the length of time they had served in the present incarceration. However, number of previous incarcerations was negatively related to the complexity subscale. These results suggest that incarceration does not exert a consistent influence on their scores. This is consistent with previous suggestions that such attitudes develop prior to adolescence and are relatively stable thereafter.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.